Speaking in Dublin at the end of her one-day visit to Ireland, European Commissioner for Environment Jessika Roswall was non-committal on the renewal of Ireland’s nitrates derogation.

“I am fully aware of the importance of the derogation to Ireland’s farmers and also to their need for clarification and away from uncertainty,” she said.

Europe’s environment commissioner said that for the sake of the EU, the Government and farmers, any extension to the derogation must be legally robust in order to provide “the certainty that farmers ask for and need while also protecting water quality".

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"Solutions that we are working on must and have to comply with all [European] Union law.”

She said that she welcomed Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon’s commitment that any derogation will comply with the habitats directive and water framework directive and also the commitments by farmers and agribusiness.

Commitments

“So in these commitments, I hope that we can consider the request of a derogation positively.

"This decision is not mine alone, we need to seek approval together with the other member states and take that case to the nitrates committee and this is a necessary step before we can ratify any decision.”

In response to a question by the Irish Farmers Journal asking the commissioner whether she can give certainty to farmers around the retention of the 220kg organic N limit, the commissioner was non-committal.

“I cannot commit to anything. What I said is that I hope we can consider it in a positive way.

"We are in discussions and we know the time pressures for farmers and the Irish authorities need clarity and to move away from uncertainty.

“But what I’ve seen and heard today on my visit is positive and that is something that strengthens me because we also need to assess the different science that you have shown me, but this is a process that is going on a long time and it has been very constructive so that is what I can commit to today,” she said.

Earlier in the day, the commissioner visited the farm of Pat and Kayleigh Durkin in Co Kildare and she also met with farm organisations and environmental NGOs.

Hijacked

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal after his meeting with the commissioner, Irish Farmers' Association president Francie Gorman said that he highlighted to her the fact that the habitats directive and the requirement for appropriate assessment has been hijacked by NGOs to push forward an agenda which has hamstrung the forestry sector and which now threatens Ireland’s derogation farmers.

When asked by the Irish Farmers Journal whether the commissioner felt the nitrates directive and the four-year cycle for a derogation renewal was fit for purpose, she said that the derogation does have uncertainty, but that it is a flexibility that needs to be issued within the law.

Speaking at the press conference, Minister Heydon said that while he hoped the derogation decision doesn’t go to the 11th hour, he said that it is the nature of the exemption to the directive.

“It’s understanding each other’s perspectives, understanding the constraints of the Commission and the flexibilities and certainties required by our farmers,” he said.

“If we come to an agreement, the conditionality with that is really important in terms of certainty and how workable that would be and that it’s also legally robust because, in this day and age, all environmental measures are open to legal challenge.

“So it’s in our farmers' interests, as much as the commissioner or anybody else, that anything we come up with is legally robust as well.”